THE previous PSRC was accused by the Unite union of being stubborn and refusing to negotiate properly over the airport firefighters’ dispute.

By contrast, the same union has praised the current pay body for its flexibility and willingness to engage in meaningful talks. That change of tone is not surprising.

The old PSRC was trying hard to implement the States’ policy of pay restraint, as part of a wider strategy of keeping revenue spending increases to ‘no higher than RPI’.

The new regime has taken the easy route of buying its way out of a problem. It has paid a hefty sum of ‘Danegeld’.

Faced with the prospect of the island being held to ransom again, it has paid the demands in full in advance. By doing so, it’s made a dreadful rod for the island’s back.

I am certainly not saying that the firefighters didn’t have any valid grievances. I simply don’t know.

What I do know was that they had the chance to present those grievances to a wholly independent pay tribunal whose findings would have been legally binding on the States. Instead they chose to strike, causing widespread misery and damage to the island’s reputation.

As a reward, the island’s top brass, led by the chief minister, promised them several things – not only a £4,000 bung but an undertaking that the nasty States’ negotiators, who they didn’t get on with, would be removed and replaced by a new set of smiley, happy faces.

The airport reopened and everybody sighed in relief at the short-term gain. Only now are we starting to see the long-term pain resulting from that moment of political weakness.

The settlement is reported to be circa 18% at a time when the island’s RPI is negative. What a precedent for other sets of public sector workers.

The idea that it won’t be used as such is naive in the extreme. The belief that the settlement can be kept secret is even more preposterous.

The details will soon emerge – rightly so – and will be used as a comparator by other pay groups. The justification for the huge pay rise, that it will reduce the cost of staff turnover, is just as dangerous.

Other groups of workers will seize on that as precedent for big hikes in pay wherever staff retention is difficult. All in all, it is hard to escape the conclusion that an inexperienced PSRC chairman and a chief officer of HR who is new to the island have simply caved in.

In doing so, they may well have taken their lead from higher up the political food chain.

What is so counter-intuitive for me in making these arguments is that I was one of the few deputies who consistently argued that the old system of pay negotiation was outdated, inflexible and needed replacing.

Individual cases needed looking at separately. Total cost issues, including recruitment costs, needed to be considered. Trade-offs between pay and efficiency gains should be considered.

Frankly, I didn’t think the old system of free collective bargaining by one central body was the best way to achieve these things. Instead it was always likely to lead to an inflexible, ‘one size fits all’ solution.

Instead I favoured the idea of independent public sector pay review bodies. These would allow input by the directly employing committee, T&R, and the employees’ representatives. They would permit far more imaginative solutions.

However, I was a voice in the wilderness and the old system was retained. The current post-holders at PSRC will have to reach settlements with many deserving and strategically important groups. These workers will not accept any suggestion that the airport firefighters are the only special case.

Alas, if the leaked details of the deal brokered by Deputy Langlois are confirmed then it will mean two things.

The first is that the island’s policy of keeping revenue spending increases below RPI has just been holed below the waterline.

That, in turn, means we will need higher taxes just to feed the wage escalator we have just stepped onto.

Those will be on top of the higher taxes we already need to rectify the structural budget deficit.

The second regrettable consequence is that it will make the chances of the ‘English disease’ of frequent industrial action more likely to spread to Guernsey.

The message has been sent out loud and clear – ‘flex your muscles and you’ll get what you are asking for’.

A sad day.